A Violent Wind

“When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting” (Acts 2:1-2)

When I think of Pentecost, I picture fire. The flames descending on the disciples. Doves and fire are often symbols of the Holy Spirit. The churches are decorated in red; many people wear red. Pentecost is fiery. 

But Pentecost is also loud. The sound like the blowing of violent wind announced the Holy Spirit’s presence to the disciples. The Holy Spirit is also often described as wind or breath; it is spirit after all. In the Eastern traditions, the color of Pentecost is green for the life-giving breath of God.

Christian Murdock/The Gazette

Breath has become forefront in national debates these days. COVID-19 takes your breath, forcing patients onto ventilators. People complain that they can’t breathe in the mandated masks. The heart-wrenching video of George Floyd’s death—a cop with his hands in his pockets presses his knee into Floyd’s neck for nine minutes as two other cops sit on him after he’s handcuffed. “I can’t breathe,” Floyd says. “I’m going to die…Mama…” Protests break out across the nation as people risk COVID-19 to speak out against the injustice of yet another brutal murder of a black man from cops. The protesters are met with rubber bullets and pepper spray. The nights are full of the smoke of pepper spray and the fires of riots. 

It is a scary and stressful time. There are too many hardened hearts. There are no simple solutions.This year is offering little chance to stop and take a breath. 

The beginning of the Church came with the blowing of a violent wind and the descending of flame. With disciples, moved by the Spirit, stepping outside and declaring the truth. They were met with hostility, violence, and death. This is the heritage of the Church. The truth is not safe. At times it is hard to breathe. But maintain the truth on your lips and trust God to give you breath when you need it and receive you into His arms after you take your last.

Breathe on me, Breath of God,

Fill me with life anew,

That I may love what Thou dost love,

And do what Thou wouldst do.

Breathe on me, Breath of God,

Until my heart is pure,

Until with Thee I will one will,

To do and to endure.

Sts. Corona and Victor

Over the past couple of months, there has been a circulating story of St. Corona, patroness against epidemics. What are the odds that a Roman martyr named Corona would be there ready to pray for our protection against a virus of the same name?

It is true there is a saint Corona. She is also called Stephanie. Each means “crown” in Latin and Greek, respectfully, for the vision she had. She was born in the Roman Empire in the second century. At a young age she married a soldier.

One day she witnessed another soldier (though some suggest it was her husband), Victor, being tortured for his Christian beliefs. She immediately had a vision of two crowns falling from the sky, one for him and the other for her. When she announced her vision and said that Victor was a blessed man, she was also condemned.

Both were martyred. Victor was victorious in death. Corona received her crown. Their feast day is May 14.

While their story is mostly legend, there is no record of them being patrons of plague or epidemics until this year. St. Corona has traditionally been a patron of fortune, called upon for gambling or treasure hunting. Yet most patron of plague or disease gained that patronage as plagues spread through regions, and people called upon more and more saints for protection. So Corona may be taking up a new cause as people learn her and Victor’s story and ask for her intercession against the current coronavirus and the economic fallout.